Namal wants ‘popular school’ mentality erased

Sandasen Marasinghe, Irangika Range and Disna Mudalige

The time is ripe to introduce educational reforms to suit modern Sri Lanka, UPFA MP Namal Rajapaksa said in Parliament yesterday.

He said education should be detached from politics, adding that using issues in the education sphere for petty political gain should be stopped.

Rajapaksa said not only quantitative development but also qualitative development must be pursued in the educational sector. He said there are problems in teacher distribution in the country.

The MP also pointed out the necessity to formulate a home grown education policy suitable to Sri Lanka, adding that vestiges of imperial education concepts are still seen in our education system. Rajapaksa observed the country’s education system should also change to cater to the emerging needs of the country .

Commending the 1,000 secondary school development programme, the MP underscored the need to rid ourselves of the popular schools mentality. MP Namal Rajapaksa was participating in the Budget 2013 committee stage debate the expenditure heads of the Ministry of Education .